'Girls with Goals' ep 4: The YUWA girls triumph — beyond the football field

It’s been a few days since we were introduced to the inspiring journey of a group of girls from Jharkand, who have risen above their less advantaged backgrounds, through football training imparted by the NGO YUWA. YUWA, powered by Lenovo, and supported by Ranbir Kapoor, aided the girls in reaching the Donosti Cup in Spain — the largest football youth tournament in the world. The girls stepped onto a flight for the first time in their lives, travelled several hundred miles and got ready to compete against teams from 35 other countries in the 25th edition of the Donosti Cup. Their journey has been chronicled in the web series Girls With Goals, and Firstpost has been following it every step of the way. In the previous episode, we witnessed the strength of these girls in the face of a challenge, as they readied for the next level of the tourney. Now, in the new — and final — episode, they leave the past behind, like their mentor Ranbir tells them, “exactly where it belongs”: The girls lost their match against TOLOSA CF B from Spain, but came out stronger. The match was a draw, with the daredevils from India losing by just one point in the penalty shoot out. That one point could have taken them to the next level in the tournament. But in this episode, they take the same point as a step into a brighter future. The story of these girls has moved far beyond the village in Ranchi from where they hail. Football may have transformed their lives, but their exploits on the football field have inspired millions of Indians.